God chooses in the strangest ways.
Jesse had seven sons, and one of them was to become the King of Israel. So, when he hears that the Prophet Samuel is coming to Bethlehem, he lines them all up.
He’s sure that Samuel will choose Elian, for his is the oldest, the tallest and the best looking. He’d make a fine kind.
Not so fast, God whispers in Samuel’s ear. You might be impressed with him, but I have looked in his heart and he’s not the one.
So Samuel brings the second oldest, Abinadad. His name means nobility. And Shimeah, whose name means the famous one. And Nethaneel, who they called “a gift from God.” And Radii, the conqueror and Ozem, whose name means “strength.”
But God chose none of them, and Samuel turns to Jesse and asks “Are these all the sons you have?"
Well, Jesse says, there’s the youngest and he is our tending sheep. And you guessed it. God chose him to be King of Israel. The runt of the litter.
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In the same way, today’s very long Gospel begins with everyone believing that the man born blind is the biggest sinner in Jerusalem. For why else would God make someone blind, except because he was a sinner? He is an unworthy, unclean beggar in their sight. But of all the people in Jerusalem: the Pharisees, the scholars of the law, his parents, the Jews… Jesus chose him.
And he’s a not particularly bright or articulate blind man either. I love his testimony, the second time they call him to the stand and demand to know if Jesus is a sinner. “Did you hear him?” they ask. He says simply:
“I don’t know if he is a sinner. The only thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” ‘And if God does not listen to sinners, and he made me see, how can he be a sinner?’
At which they become enraged:
"You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?"
And then they throw him out.
And then, our not too bright, but honest once-blind-man sees Jesus again, who comes to the point of the story:
”Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He asks him.
"Who is he, sir,” he answers, “that I may believe in him?”
And Jesus says the most beautiful words of the Gospel. He says four words to the once blind man: "You have seen him.”
And he says: “I do believe.”
For, in the end, we don’t need all kinds of fancy words. We don’t have to be the ones with the best reputations or the coolest names. We don’t have to be the best looking or the tallest or the strongest.
We just have to be chosen. As you have been. In all your littleness and imperfection, to know the Son of Man and to worship him.
